A day out at the orphanage

It was his idea - celebrating his birthday at the orphanage. It wasn't till the other day that his parents - Kalpana and Muthuraman - divulged to Mukesh they had adopted him from 'Families for Children' at Podhanur when he was merely three months old. Mukesh is now 11.
Reproduced here from the website are some faces of today's children at the Podhanur orphanage. They raise over 250 such children - from new-born till 5 years - and an equal number of those with varied physical and mental disabilities.
Mukesh was born among such children he met during his recent orphanage visit. They were not fortunate enough to have been adopted like Mukesh. His biological mother who had taken refuge at 'Families for Children' reportedly left the place after child-birth. It was left to the orphanage staff to name the new-born (Praveen) and nurse him for three months till Kalpana and Muthuraman came along to adopt Praveen.

They re-named him Mukesh and gave him a fresh life. Kalpana said during his birthday visit (Jan.26) to the orphanage they met the woman - addressed by everyone around as chechi - who had nursed Mukesh (as Praveen) for weeks after his birth. She also remembered the Muthuramans and his parents when they had come to the orphanage over a decade back, at the time of adoption.

Muthuraman's parents - Saraswathi and Vidyanathan - were very supportive of Kalpana's decision to go for adoption.And Mukesh got a set of parents, and also grandparents. On their part - Saraswathi and Vaidyanathan - the family seniors have had the joy and pleasure of raising a grandchild. They are at an age when people turn to divinity and pilgrimage.I don't know if Saraswathi and her husband realise this.Bringing up Mukesh, they can be said to be gaining punya on a daily basis, without having to do Kashi-Rameswaram in pilgrimage.
After he handed over sweets to them, the children at the orphanage greeted Mukesh with a chorus of 'Happy birthday to Mukesh'. "We were moved to tears," said Kalpana when we called her from Mysore. Recounting her orphanage visit, and the affection with which the children and staff there welcomed them, Kalpana told her Mysore mami that she wished her family had the resources to adopt some more children to grow up with Mukesh.

Kalpana (a school teacher) and Muthuraman (who works for a Coimbatore company making printing machinery) adopted Mukesh as an infant. He knew of no 'Amma' other than Kalpana till she told him of his adoption a couple of weks back. Now, after a decade, she and Muthuraman dicided to tell Mukesh, because they didn't want him to hear this from others. That he was not their biological son was widely known in family circles; and Kalpana was getting concerned about holding it from the 11-year-old any longer. Mukesh wasn't getting any younger, she said, adding that she felt a sense of relief of having unburdened herself of something that was weighing so heavily on her mind, for so long.